When Emmerdale's Alice Coulthard landed the part of poor little rich girl Maisie Wylde she had no idea what a wild time lay ahead.

Not only is it fun playing such a spoilt, brattish flirt, but the part has put Alice at the heart of some of the ITV1 soap's most controversial storylines - including murder, incest and mental meltdown.

And she has loved every minute. But now after two years in the show she has decided to quit for her other great love - new husband Owen Dyke.

Alice is just back from honeymoon in the Maldives, which explains her golden tan and why she can't stop smiling.

"It was the most amazing day of my life," says Alice, 29, who married rock star Owen four weeks ago.

"I loved every second and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm so happy - I'll have that memory for the rest of my life."

VOWS

The couple exchanged vows in a packed outdoor ceremony near Owen's family home in Norfolk.

Wedding guests, including Emmerdale co -stars Amand a Donohoe (who plays mum Natasha Wylde) and Sammy Winward, along with Hollywood A-lister Mischa Barton, were treated to music from live bands during the festival-style celebration.

Today, flicking through the wedding snaps that friends have sent to her laptop, Alice says: "It doesn't quite seem real. It's hard to believe it's all over."

But it is only just the beginning. She is making a new start - both in her married life with Owen, who is the former bass player with punk band White Rose Movement, and in her acting career. Alice will say goodbye to Emmerdale at the end of this year. It is not a decision she has taken lightly.

She says: "When I arrived all I knew was the Wyldes were meant to be the perfect family. But as usual, in soaps, that didn't last long. I knew they were going to rock the boat, but I'd no idea how dark it was going to get. I've had great fun.

"I've loved playing Maisie. She is very flirtatious which I am not at all, so it's been liberating to play someone who is so different and to act out that side of her life. I'm a happily married lady, so it's the only chance I'll get to be a minx!" In the past two years Maisie fell for Ryan Lamb - they kissed and very nearly had sex before discovering they were half-brother and sister. That revelation caused Maisie to have a breakdown.

SECRETS

Now she is at the centre of an ongoing murder mystery. Ryan is locked up, charged with killing dad Mark Wylde. This week Maisie flees the village after confronting Ryan in prison and realising he isn't the murderer after all. And more secrets will be revealed in the run-up to her explosive exit.

"As usual with soaps, it's exciting stuff," says Alice. "It's all very tense and intense. I genuinely don't know how it's all going to end - yet. But it was never my plan to be in a soap forever. I knew it would be something I'd do for a couple of years.

"Don't get me wrong, I was completely nervous about leaving. It's a great show and you get used to working with the same people.. and the regular pay cheque. And I'll miss Amanda Donohoe like mad - I can talk to her about anything, she's like a second mum to me.

"But I don't have any regrets. Leaving now is the right thing to do. The longer I stay, the harder it will be.

"I don't know what I'm going to do next. I'd like to do something different, but I'll probably end up being offered lots of crazy sisters having incestuous relationships. But I like not quite knowing what's round the corner, that's what keeps me going.

She and Owen have had a long-distance relationship ever since she started in Emmerdale.

"I've been in Leeds, while Owen and my whole life apart from work has been down in London," she says. "I had to put everything on hold and there were times when it has been hard. Owen and I talk on the phone about 10 times a day - I daren't look at my phone bills - but it just isn't the same.

"While I was filming the incest scenes and coming out emotionally drained, having him to talk to got me through it. He was my total support. But he was never going to come up here, so I've always been keen to go back at some point and this seemed like the right time."

It means she and Owen, who have been sharing a house in East London with another married couple, can now start looking for a place of their own.

"Exciting, isn't it?" laughs Alice. "And it will probably be cheaper than talking on the phone all the time."

So was it love at first sight?

"I think it was for him," she says with a giggle. "And it nearly was for me... He said he fancied me straight away.

ROMANTIC

"I was in a relationship when we met, but he waited for me. How romantic is that? Then, when I was single, he heard I was going to be at a party and came to catch me. When I saw him again my heart was going 'boom, boom, boom'. He didn't care what other people thought and he made me laugh so much."

Owen won her over by jumping up on a table and eating a bunch of flowers.

"It sounds mad but that impressed me," she says. "He was hilarious.

"He was fairly anti-marriage when we met but that changed.

We went to Ibiza last year, for a week with friends then a week on our own, and he told them that he was going to ask me.

"On the day he asked me I wanted dinner in the room, but he was insisting I went out on to the terrace for champagne.

I couldn't understand it - then he got down on one knee and asked me.

"He'd even rung my dad, which I thought was very brave."

Is starting a family on the cards?

"I'd love to have children one day," says Alice. "But for now I want to enjoy just spending time with Owen. After so long working away, being together full-time will be a real treat. And I want to make the most of every minute."

Emmerdale is on ITV1 on Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri at 7pm, and on Thurs at 7pm and 8pm.